Waltham Abbey is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

Epping Forest District Epping Forest is a local government district in Essex, England. Situated in the west of the county, bordering northeastern Greater London, it is named after, and contains a large part of, Epping Forest. The district, though wholly within the c ...

in Essex, England. Located approximately north-northeast of central London and adjacent to the Greater London boundary, it is a partly urbanised parish with large sections of open land in the

Metropolitan Green Belt The Metropolitan Green Belt is a statutory green belt around London, England. It comprises parts of Greater London, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey, parts of two of the three districts of Bedfordshire and a s ...

. Waltham Abbey is a recent renaming of the ancient parish of Waltham Holy Cross. Aside from the town of

Waltham Abbey Waltham Abbey is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex, within the metropolitan and urban area of London, England, north-east of Charing Cross. It lies on the Greenwich Meridian, between the River Lea in the west and ...

, it includes the hamlets of Claverhambury, Fishers Green, Holyfield,

Sewardstone Sewardstone is a hamlet and district of southern Waltham Abbey, in the Epping Forest District of Essex, England, lying between Epping Forest and the built-up areas of Waltham Abbey, Chingford and Enfield. It is 11.6 miles north-northeast of Cent ...

and

Upshire Upshire is a village and area of Waltham Abbey in the Epping Forest District of Essex, England. The centre of the village is on Horseshoe Hill (a minor road), on which is The Horseshoe public house, and the church of St Thomas, a Grade II* listed ...

, and the village of

High Beach High Beach (or High Beech) is a village inside Epping Forest in south-west Essex, England. Part of Waltham Abbey, the village is within the Epping Forest District and the ward of Waltham Abbey High Beach, and lies approximately north-east of Ch ...

. The local council is Waltham Abbey Town Council.

History

Waltham Holy Cross was an ancient parish in the Waltham hundred of Essex. The Abbey of Waltham held the manor of Waltham until the dissolution of the monasteries, when it passed to the Denny family. The parish adopted the

Public Health Act 1848 Local boards or local boards of health were local authorities in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulate environment ...

in 1850 which created the Waltham Holy Cross local government district and a

local board of health Local boards or local boards of health were local authorities in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulate environmenta ...

. In 1894 this district became

Waltham Holy Cross Urban District Waltham Holy Cross was an urban district in the county of Essex, England, which was abolished and amalgamated with other local government districts in 1974 to form the Epping Forest District. The district consisted of the area of the ancient pa ...

, governed by an urban district council. The parish ceased to have any role in local government, aside from election of the

board of guardians Boards of guardians were ''ad hoc'' authorities that administered Poor Law in the United Kingdom from 1835 to 1930. England and Wales Boards of guardians were created by the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, replacing the parish overseers of the po ...

. After 1930 as a designated urban parish it had only nominal existence. The parish was within the Metropolitan Police District and part of the review area of the

Royal Commission on Local Government in Greater London The Royal Commission on Local Government in Greater London, also known as the Herbert Commission, was established in 1957 and published its report in 1960. The report made recommendations for the overhaul of the administration of the capital. They ...

; however, it did not form part of the proposed Greater London area, because it was entirely within the Metropolitan Green Belt and had limited connection to the London built-up area. On 1 April 1974 the

was abolished and combined with other local government districts to form the

. The urban district council was replaced with Epping Forest District Council. A limited number of former boroughs and urban districts were permitted to retain limited local government powers as

successor parish Successor parishes are civil parishes with a parish council, created in England in 1974. They replaced, with the same boundaries, a selected group of urban districts and municipal boroughs: a total of 300 successor parishes were formed from the ...

es. Waltham Holy Cross civil parish gained a parish council and became used for local government again. The parish was initially known as Waltham Holy Cross, but by resolution of the new parish council it was renamed Waltham Abbey and the status of a town was adopted, with the parish council becoming Waltham Abbey Town Council. The

Enfield Island Village Enfield Island Village is a modern housing estate in Enfield Lock, in the London Borough of Enfield, north London. Before April 1994, Enfield Island Village formed part of the Epping Forest district of Essex, but it was transferred to the borough ...

area was transferred from the parish, to the unparished area of

Enfield Enfield may refer to: Places Australia * Enfield, New South Wales * Enfield, South Australia ** Electoral district of Enfield, a state electoral district in South Australia, corresponding to the suburb ** Enfield High School (South Australia) ...

in Greater London in 1994. The parish ceased to be part of the Metropolitan Police District in 2000 and came within the area of Essex Police that year.

Government

The local council is Waltham Abbey Town Council. The town hall is located on Highbridge Street in the town of

. There are eleven councillors elected from five wards. The wards are High Beech (2 councillors), Honey Lane (3 councillors), North East (2 councillors), Paternoster (2 councillors), and South West (2 councillors).

Geography

The civil parish is . It is located approximately north-northeast of central London and is adjacent to the Greater London boundary to the south. The M25 motorway runs through the parish east–west, splitting it into two approximately equal parts. The town of Waltham Abbey is located immediately to the north of the motorway. The northwest of the parish contains part of the Lee Valley Park. Most of the parish, and the majority of its population, are within the Waltham Abbey

post town A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) Including the correct post town in the address increases ...

of the EN postcode area. However, lightly populated parts to the south are within the Loughton post town of the

IG postcode area The IG postcode area, also known as the Ilford postcode area, is a group of eleven postcode districts in England, within six post towns. These cover parts of eastern Greater London and south-west Essex. Inward mail for the area is sorted, alon ...

, and the Sewardstone and

Gilwell Park Gilwell Park is a camp site and activity centre in East London located in the Sewardstonebury area of Waltham Abbey, within Epping Forest, near the border with Chingford. The site is owned by The Scout Association, is used by Scouting and Gu ...

areas to the southwest are within the

E postcode area The E (Eastern) postcode area, also known as the London E postcode area, is the part of the London post town covering much of east London, England. It borders the N postcode area to the west, both north of the tidal Thames. Since closure of th ...

of the

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

post town. The main settlement in the parish is the town of

, and the other smaller settlements are the hamlets of Claverhambury, Fishers Green, Holyfield,

and

. Claverhambury consists of approximately 15 homes and farms by two woods, Deerpark Wood and Stockings Grove, to the north-east of the town centre. Its bounds are the eastern slopes of Galley Hill. The western side of this hilltop is wooded. It is directly south of Epping Long Green, a tall ridge topped by the

Stort Valley Way The River Stort is a river in Essex and Hertfordshire, England. It is 24 miles (38 km) long and flows from just south of the village of Langley, Essex, Langley to the River Lea at Hoddesdon. The river's name is a back-formation; the town o ...

footpath between the towns of

Epping Epping may refer to: Places Australia * Epping, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Epping railway station, Sydney * Electoral district of Epping, the corresponding seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly * Epping Forest, Kearns, a he ...

and Harlow.http://getamap.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/getamap/frames.htm?mapAction=gaz&gazName=g&gazString=TQ058812

Ordnance survey Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...

website Fishers Green is a locality north of the town of Waltham Abbey on the B194 road on the section known as the Crooked Mile. Holyfield Lake is home to th
Fishers Green Sailing Club
offering a beautiful setting with tiny islands dotting the 180-acre tree-lined lake, making sailing all the more challenging and interesting. Holyfield consists of approximately 11 homes and farms and is mostly on the western slopes of Monkham's Hill, near the top of which is situated Monkham's Hall. Seven buildings in the hamlet are architecturally

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

.Map
created by

Ordnance Survey Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...

, courtesy of

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

In the west are plant nurseries above lakes of the River Lea, and an arboretum and tree nursery separate the hamlet from the town to the south. It is located at grid reference .

Transport

There are no railway lines or stations within the parish, although there are several located nearby. The nearest stations are

Chingford Chingford is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. The town is approximately north-east of Charing Cross, with Waltham Abbey to the north, Woodford Green and Buckhurst Hill to the east, Walthamstow t ...

, half a mile south of the parish boundary;

Loughton Loughton () is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. Part of the metropolitan and urban area of London, the town borders Chingford, Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill, and is northeast of Chari ...

, one mile to the east; and Waltham Cross, half a mile to the west.

Arms

References

{{Epping Forest Civil parishes in Essex Epping Forest District Waltham Abbey